Philippine Pacific Line
Philippine Pacific Line, is the oldest shipping company currently operating in the Philippines. Mainly operates Asian and European routes, it has over 30 branches and 100+ ports internationally. Famous for being the owner of the Germania ''of 1960, which sank near the coast of Sicily during a cyclone. They are also famous for having great service and luxury in their ships. Once owned the now largest shipping company in the world: the JSL-MSC, that revived the company after its bankruptcy in the mid-2000s. History 1947, after the Second World War, a program by the government to establish a shipping company that would represent the country was approved and thus the Philippine Line was established on the 30th of April of that same year. The Philippine Line under the control of the United States Lines, was given a fleet of ships to operate, most especially for transpacific voyages. Albeit, most of the ships given were all cargo, some of these ships were modified to accommodate passengers. The first cargo-passenger ship they launched after these modifications was named 'Marina' and sailed on its maiden voyage from Subic Bay Port to Hong Kong. After the success of the ''Marina's voyage, Philippine Line subsequently launched the Marina's other sisters, the Fariña and Yolanda. The trio became the faces of the Philippine Line's passenger catalogs and brochures. After some time, the Philippine Line, with its growing popularity began to acquire newer ships, launch other routes and open its doors to the stock exchange as a government-owned company. In 1953, during the peak of the Philippine Line's popularity, one of its ships, the Juliana capsized near the coasts of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. This incident created an impact to the company and soon, sales for voyages started to decline. With its impending closure in 1956, the Philippine Government auctioned off the company and all of its assets. The company was bought by Tobias Almario, who just won the Lotto jackpot. Tobias or known to his friends as Toby, renamed the company into the Philippine Pacific Line, colloquially known as PPL. PPL, under Toby's management, restarted the voyage craze created by the former company by offering cheaper fares and new destinations, during this craze, they bought new ships and in 1955, ordered their first locally made ship, ultimately starting the shipbuilding industry in the country with the shipbuilding company, De Guzman Builders & Fitters. The first ship made for the PPL launched during mid-1957 and was named Alexandria. After the success and popularity of the Alexandria, the PPL ordered and launched three other sister ships of the Alexandria, namely the Persia, Macedonia and Gallicia. This became their first class of ships, the Alexandria-class. After some time of slowly expanding their destinations, many of their old destinations where flooded with people who wanted to sail to said destinations. Because of this, PPL created its own subsidiary, MSNCO (which would later be known as JSL-MSC). In 1963, they suffered an accident which involved their largest ship at that time, the Germania, sinking outside the coast of Sicily, in which the reparations given almost cost them the bankruptcy of the company itself. Suffering heavy losses from the accident, PPL closed some of their ports in Europe, to initiate their rebuilding. Some of their ships were left at drydocks, never to be used again, they also cancelled some orders for new ships. The Germania's third sister, the Alemania, that was intended to be given to MSNCO, was used for 4 years during the rebuilding program. In 1967, MSNCO successfully had its maiden voyage, which proved useful for the PPL's restructuring and in 1971, fully recovered from their losses, opening some of their former ports and routes, again establishing the PPL as the largest shipping company in the country. Under Reuben Almario's management, the company flourished into one of the top contenders in the shipping industry gaining Holff-Schiffbauer's contract as the operator of their German-built ships. PPL flourished with the introduction the Filipiniana of 1975, the fastest ship in the fleet, gaining the Pacific Blue Riband and held it consecutively for 6 years, before being beat by the JSL's Magnific. During the early 1980's, PPL launched it's first around the world cruise route and used the Maria Clara, as it's premiere ship. During the mid-1980's they launched their largest class of ships, the infamous Empresses of the Seas, the Arctic, Pacific, Indianic and the Antarctic. During the 2000's with their sales being cut to half due to the launch of the largest ships of the 2000's: JSL's Nizimic-class liners. They tried to compete by ordering new, larger ships, but because of the 2008 Asian financial crisis, they were caught off and ultimately cancelled the orders. After this failure, they cannot cope with the debts and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 2009. Before liquidating their assets, JSL bought them for 5.5 million USD in 2010. Under JSL's management, PPL (ironically, the JSL's former parent company) began to scrap their old assets and turned over the Empresses of the Seas, their only profitable assets to JSL. And was thought to be dissolved by the company, but instead new ships were built by the now JSL-MSC for the PPL. Some of these ships include: the Romanic ''ships, the newly built ''Filipiniana. Today, the company still serves some of their former routes and new routes to accommodate the good flow of passengers after reviving as a budget international shipping company. On December, 2018, PPL announced their departure from the merger and established themselves as an independent shipping line and ordered a new class of ships in preparation for their 75th anniversary, called the Platinum Jubilee-class. Fleet as Philippine Line (1947-57) Fleet as the Philippine Pacific Line (1957-2009)